Life of Sin
by ProdigyPlatter
Summary: How does one redeem himself from a life of sin? That's what Roxas Torey wants to know. Enter Namine Strong, a girl who might just have the answer. AU.
1. Endeavours

**Life of Sin:1**

* * *

The hour was five before three in the afternoon and a class of impatient students sat fidgety on their bottoms, waiting for three o'clock to hit. It would be signaling the end of the dreadful school day. They were all like little children, their hands shaking with anticipation for their beloved candy store to open. The five minutes slowly turned into an eternity as the long hand slowly turned, seemingly mocking the mass of students.

Ding!

The whole class erupted like a volcano and ran to the door, pushing and shoving anyone for a chance to leave the classroom. One of those people was Roxas Strife. He stood out of the crowd for his wild, windswept blond hair which was brighter than any other in the room. His glowing cobalt eyes darted back and forth for an opening so he that finally get through the blockade of students that push and shoved and halted the rest from getting out. Yet, he successfully found an opening and squeezed through the people. Though it left him gasping for air since his torso was squeezed way too much for his own good.

With this aside, Roxas strode on to his locker, looking down and avoiding the stares of the other students on him. He walked like his usual self. Hands on his pockets and his shoulder hunched, his head laying low and his strides quick and nimble. It was like he was afraid of going into the halls. Who could blame him though? He was given a reason to be afraid of the halls. The moment he looked up, he was met with a glare of a student and a hateful word to accompany it.

Why you ask?

No, he didn't have terrifying facial features. Some would even say that he was quite handsome with his windswept blond hair and glowing eyes. And not to mention his toned body from athletic endeavors. But Roxas sighed. It was always like this. This school of his was filled with rich, snobby, shallow people that would back stab their so-called friends just to climb the social ladder of the school. It was filled with corporate sons and daughters that were destined to inherit millions of dollars from their parents. And someone like him wasn't fitted for this kind of environment. You asked why, again? For he wasn't that rich. It was a miracle alone the he was able to enter such a prestigious school with a scholarship. He didn't need to associate himself anymore with these higher-ups.

Roxas didn't belong here. An outcast of the student body. Yet, he couldn't disappoint his parents for he owed them a lot. They had worked day and night and the opportunity for him to pay back his gratitude came as a scholarship to this school. Roxas just couldn't pass the chance.

His train of thoughts came into a halt as he bumped into a girl, her elbow digging into his solar plexus and his chin hitting her forehead. The girl's pale blond hair swished back as the two collided into each other quite hard, books flying through the air. Roxas, as he was pretty athletic and was used to collision, recovered quick from the elbow and swiftly grabbed the flying books in mid-air successfully and caught the girl as she was about to hit the ground. His breath hitched a little for the girl was heavier than he had first expected.

"Ah! I'm sorry!" the girl shrieked and recovered quickly from the fall of hers. She shot him a guilty smile and apologized again to him. Roxas just nodded in acknowledgement and put the textbooks on her arms slowly and gently before smiling and taking his leave. He had to leave quick before he gets any more attention from the surrounding people. But his hand was abruptly caught by the girl's own hand. Instinctively, he drew back his hand and took a step back from the girl that had taken his hand.

"Oh, didn't mean to do that. You just dropped your pencil, that's all," the girl whispered in a small voice that was barely audible to him. Roxas responded the girl's words with a small meek nod with his head again, but a bit embarrassed for his reaction over such a little thing. Sheepishly, he rubbed the back of his neck, a habit he developed over the years when he was feeling quite foolish for something he had done(this being one of those moments).

The black pencil that he had dropped was between the girl's forefinger and thumb, twirling it slightly. The girl tilted her head as a lapse of awkward silence blanketed the two on the rushing hallways.

"Are you gonna take it?" she asked innocently, snapping her fingers as if Roxas was in a trance of some sort. She laughed that it took Roxas by surprise. The girl that hit him was laughing at him! How dare she do that to him?! Roxas scowled inside his head as she quieted down.

"You okay? Mr. Trance," the girl said in a humorous tone that it made Roxas' cheek redden a bit. It wasn't the first time that he had heard that nickname. Maybe it was because he was always blanking out. She interrupted his thoughts once again and grabbed his hand before he could even protest. She dropped the pencil on his open hands before smiling.

"Ah. Sorry," Roxas apologized to her with a small chuckle. The girl flashed him a grin, showing her pearly whites. It made his lips tug into a small smile. The girl gasped quite suddenly at her small realization.

"Wait, aren't you Roxas?"

The small smile he had on a moment ago disappeared faster than a blink of an eye and his emotionless mask came on again. He nodded with a harsh scowl embedded and pocketed the pencil back to his faded blue jeans, not once looking into the girl's eyes. Knowing the school and the attitude of most of the students here, she will probably scream and yell that she had been contaminated by the trash that he was. Yes, he was trash compared to them but they didn't have to lash out.

Roxas quickly darted left to avoid the girl and make a sprint to his locker. But the girl's hand was quicker and grabbed hold of his hand before he even got about a feet away from her. Roxas looked back and tried to force the girl's hand away from him to no avail as the girl's hand had a firm grip on his wrist.

"No, I'm not gonna say anything bad. It's just that that was the first time that I saw you smile," she quietly told him the reason for her actions.

Roxas was agape in shock with her words. Now that he thought about it, this was the first time he had smiled to anyone in this school. The girl smiled as she let go of his wrist. Roxas nodded again in response before turning around one hundred eighty degrees and walking away in a hurried manner.

"Oh, I'm Nami by the way!" she shouted her name to him before slipping away.

He sighed. He seriously has to stop associating himself with these kinds of people. Roxas adjusted his bag before going to his locker, the name Nami resonating inside his head. Such a peculiar name for a girl. Nonetheless, he made his way home.

The next day, most of the students were not present for the classes for there was a school wide field trip and Roxas, looking quite apathetic, was one of the few students that were left to suffer something fatal called boredom. He couldn't go of course since it cost money and money was something his family wasn't abundant with. He looked around the classroom again for the umpteenth time as the teacher, also looking quite uninterested, droned on about algebraic equations and whatnot with his monotonous voice. Counting him, there were only ten out of the thirty students present in the classroom. And each and every single one of these people looked out bored out of their minds.

Roxas shifted his lazy gaze from the students to the black clock hanging by the door. Two minutes was left of class time before he can be free from the hellish environment. Two more minutes of staring at nothing in particular. Though there was this worksheet that the teacher had given him but he didn't want to do it.

Ding!

Roxas exhaled a breath that he was unconsciously holding and gathered his belongings, stuffing the unfinished sheet of equations in his backpack. He didn't care if it was crumpled. The only thing in his mind at the moment was food and serving today at the cafeteria was his favorite. Lasagna! And he was quite happy for the people that antagonizing him every time he walked in the corridors of the school were somewhere out having their little field trip.

"Ak! Watch out!" A voice screamed. Roxas arched his eyebrow and looked at the direction of the voice. Now who could be doing that?

Crash!

"Oww..." Roxas groaned in pain from the force of the fall. He looked up and saw the same girl from before laying about a feet away from him, clutching her head. He eyed the girl with the scowl. It was met with another scowl.

"Twice in a row you tackled me," Roxas told her in a tone of annoyance. "Are you stalking me or something?"

Nami scoffed at his statement. "You wish! It was just an coincidence. That's all," she retorted back to him. Roxas just rolled his eyes at her childish behavior. He sighed and grabbed her hand, pulling her up.

"Just don't do it again. You got that?" he scolded her again, "I don't want to have bruises every time I go to school." He laughed a bit as she huffed immaturely and drawing her hand back.

"C'mon. Just forget about it." Roxas brushed off the incident just like that and resumed walking to the cafeteria for his lasagna. "Aren't you going to the cafeteria? Its Lasagna Day," he asked Nami with a smile. She meekly nodded.

Roxas raised an eyebrow once again. This girl was too confusing. A few moments ago, her face was as red as a tomato from anger and with a blink of an eye, she was silent and shy. What was with this girl? Roxas wondered.

"So why did you become quiet all of the sudden?" he asked her nonchalantly as they both walked in a relaxed manner to the lunch room.

"Well, it's because you have a nice smile," she murmured softly. "I was expecting you to be all grouchy and stuff," she continued her explanation, her cheeks reddening a bit. He chuckled at her.

"And you don't care that I'm not rich and don't have all those jazzy stuff that you guys have?" Roxas asked her with mild curiosity. The question was met with a look of pure confusion from Nami.

"Uh, no? Why would that matter?" Nami looked confused with Roxas' words as he opened the door for them to enter the lunch room.

Roxas laughed. "Never mind what I said. C'mon, I'll buy you a drink," he offered her as they grabbed a tray for their fabulous lasagna. Nami beamed brightly and grabbed a bottle of pop from the fridge, putting it on her tray. Roxas looked at his wallet. It was just enough for their whole lunch so he paid for the both of them, handing the green paper to the lunch lady with a half smile.

"Found a seat here! Mr. Trance!" Nami shouted from afar. Roxas chuckled at his given nickname. The girl was surely interesting, Roxas thought while walking to Nami.


	2. Open Window

**Life of Sin:2**

Roxas didn't understand his fellow classmates. Currently, he was in the doorway peering inside his final class of the day. Looking around the room, it was lively and bright with students' laughing and chatter. On their eyes, contentment could be seen and in their actions, a relaxed aura could be felt as if they were normal teenagers in a classroom. The sun shone through the window, illuminating everything in the room with a pleasant light. But Roxas would not fall for the theatrics. These students were anything but ordinary. These students were overflowing with money and privileges more than he could count.

They acted normal though.

Did he not act normal? He didn't understand the reasoning behind it all. He had a normal face, a normal proportionate body, a normal voice; Was being rich and powerful included in their definition of normal? Roxas could only sigh. He would have to endure it for the sake of his parents and for himself. "A diploma from this school opens up so much more options," said his father and no way in hell was he going to pass this up. Taking a deep breath, he slowly opened the door to the class.

"Oh great, he's here," a voice called out from the crowd.

Roxas ignored. "Just make it to your desk and ignore them. This is going to be worth it," he kept repeating in his head.

"All it take is one punch, Roxas. Yes, you will definitely knock the person unconscious but it will also lead to expulsion," he said to himself inside his head. A few harsh words and some bruises would be nothing compared to the future he has in store.

A piece of crumpled up paper was thrown to his direction but he gracefully dodged before planting himself on his seat. It was like this every single day, with the exception of fieldtrips where most of the students were out enjoying themselves. Well, excluding him of course. The fieldtrips of this particular school were very expensive and very "rich kid" oriented. Besides, he wouldn't want to get stuck with his classmates for a whole day and he was sure neither did they.

Soon enough, the teacher came and the crowd was forced to be seated.

"Over the past few weeks," she started, "I have seen a decrease in participation in class and in the overall lively aura of this prestigious school." Roxas scoffed. Maybe it was for her but for Roxas, it was the same as ever. But looking around, most of the students reeked of apathy. Students were lounging about, almost as if the teacher was not present. Maybe the teacher was right about the apathy syndrome spreading around school.

"Which is why we have decided to book a weekend trip which is mandatory for everyone." She eyed the students who usually skipped. With those words, the whole class erupted.

The announcement made Roxas' heart skip a beat and not in a good way. His eyes wandered around the room. Protests were being screamed but the teacher kept silent with a determined look on her eyes. A student shot up from her desk, telling her the weekend was supposed to be spent outside of school and another student reasoned that he was going to a party on Saturday. Still the teacher quietly took out her textbook and started writing the lesson on the board.

The bell soon rang and the day was signalled to an end. Packing his textbook and notebook, he was in no hurry to leave for he had to speak to the teacher. Most of the students were now gone, most likely on their expensive sports cars going fifty over the limit to enjoy their lives. Roxas could only scoff at his trail of thought. There was a good chance that he was right though. A few more minutes, the class was empty except for him and his teacher. The silence was welcomed, a change to the usually rowdy atmosphere.

"Ms. Gainsborough, I need to-"

"Hush, the field trip's cost is being covered by the school itself," her lips formed into a smirk, "I personally made sure you won't get away from this." She laughed and put her books away.

"But Ms. Gainsborough, I'm not suited-"

"Look Roxas." He was interrupted with a determined look by her teacher. "I know you're getting bullied and you would rather not go to this fieldtrip but this is also for you to expand your circle of friends." His teacher reasoned with him. "This won't be one of those 'rich kids' only type fieldtrip I can assure you that; it's actually quite the opposite."

Roxas could only sigh at his predicament.

"You're different from the other students here Roxas," she continued, "You're determined and willing to go all the shit, pardon my language, that you're currently going through right now." It was safe to say that her words had surprised him. She ended with a satisfied nod at the shocked Roxas before taking her leave.

This left Roxas all alone in the room. After a while, a bitter frown surfaced from his one shocked face.

" Determined and willing... Heh."

* * *

"Your total comes to thirty-five munny, sir. Er... Ma'am I mean. Will you be paying with keycard or cash?" Roxas' monotonous voice came out in practiced articulation. Working at the cash register on a local supermarket has its pros and cons. Quick mathematical thinking and perfect speaking skills were some of the pros. Cons, however, consists of pure eternal boredom and weird costumers. This particular costumer in front of him was definitely a part of Roxas' Top 10 Weird Costumers of the Week. Although it wasn't necessarily a bad thing; he didn't have to suffer from boredom with this costumer.

A yawn escaped from his lips as he checked his phone for the time. 8:31pm. His shift would be over in half an hour so he would have enough time to pack for tomorrow's fieldtrip and maybe even get some homework done.

The fieldtrip... It was on his mind the whole time this week. Two whole days spending time with the whole school and more importantly, with the student body. Was it worth it? He could break his arm or get the flu but he wasn't going to do that because well... it hurts. A scoff escaped from him as he started scanning the next costumer's items. He will worry about surviving the fieldtrip when he gets there.

"Mr. Trance daydreaming in the job? Tsk tsk. I should get you fired."

Roxas' eyes shot up from his trance and saw the blonde girl he had acquainted himself with earlier this month. Nami stood in front of him with a grin on her face, snickering at him.

"I- uh... Sorry ma'am," he quickly apologized and started working faster, a small smile gracing his lips. He could only laugh inwardly at himself for dazing away whenever they met, especially how focused he usually is.

"Your total is eighty munny, ma'am. Keycard or cash?" Roxas totalled up her items and put it in a grey plastic bag before handing it to her in a swift practiced motion. After paying, he shot her a quick smile before returning to his duties in the supermarket.

"Oh, Roxas, when are you getting off work?" she quickly inquired, stopping in front of the automatic sliding doors. She had a smile on while she adjusted her coat for today's rainy weather, rocking her feet casually with the pitter-patter of the rain.

"About thirty more minutes," was his quick response before starting to scan the next customer's items and putting it in the bag.

"Sweet, meet me at the cafe by Market Street and Central Station, 'kay?" With that, she took her leave and started walking through the rain.

Roxas froze. Did she just ask him out?

Thirty minutes later, Roxas, with his normal street clothes, trudged on the slippery sidewalk to the cafe that he had promised to meet Nami. The rain battered on his raincoat, constant yet relaxing which he welcomed after his stressing and monotonous shift. Puddles of water reflected the vibrant colors of streetlights and store signs, giving the dark night a lively mood despite the rain. Roxas looked up, spotting the cafe's unmistakable beige roof and the bright faces of the customers inside.

The Square Cafe was a very popular cafe that was situated at the intersection of the lively Market Street and the busy Central Station so it was naturally busy even though the night was growing old. Entering inside, Roxas' nostrils were engulfed by the scent of freshly brewed coffee and muffins that made the cafe famous. After hanging his wet coat and paying for his muffin and coffee(which he barely had enough to pay for. Damn his boss), he proceeded to look for the girl that he had promised to meet.

"Yo! Over here!"

Her piercing voice could be heard by the whole cafe, heads turning to the blonde girl sitting by the open window that let the rain's smell in. Roxas' cheeks redden by embarrassment before running up to stop her from yelling any further.

"Are you really that noisy?" Roxas seethed from clenched teeth. Nami only laughed as he took a seat in front of her. "Anyway, why did you call me here?" he asked curiously, taking a sip from his coffee right after.

"Yes and because I wanted to." Roxas snickered a bit at her blunt answer. "Also, no, this isn't a date."

A laugh escaped from deep inside him. Nami cracked a smile before returning to her activities. In front of her, a sketchbook was situated, coloring pencils scattered around the table. Looking over the coffee cup that was blocking the way, he spotted her delicate hands coloring the background of what seems to be a landscape drawing of an urban night.

"So you draw..." Roxas mused in between sips of his coffee.

Nami looked up from her sketchbook. "Oh! I'm sorry!" she quickly apologized before closing the book and shoving it in her purse. Roxas made a pouting face. He really wanted to see more of her artwork. Shrugging, he noted inside his head to ask about her art one time.

"Anyway, I just wanted to hang out since we barely see each other in school," Nami explained, "I never see you at lunch and you're not in any of my classes so why not, right?" She took a sip from her mug.

"True that. I hate the cafeteria though so I'm sorry," said Roxas. Ever since the day where he first met Nami, the bullying has increased at least twofold. The reasons why Roxas could only wonder but he did have a nagging feeling that the reason was right in front of him. He had to admit to himself, Nami was a very attractive girl and he was sure that most of the student's in his grade were jealous of him. A inner sense of accomplishment was bubbling inside his stomach but he forced it down. "Besides, don't you have other friends you would rather hang out with? Like the ones that actually have money?"

It was Nami's time to laugh. "I'm not shallow or materialistic if that's what you're asking," she said through a grin.

With that, a relaxed atmosphere blanketed the two.

After the topics were exhausted and the night grew old, they both stood up from their seats. The number of customers have died down by the time they were done but the few lingering ones watched silently as the two teenagers got up and put on their coats. Nami, graceful that she is, dropped a few munny(Roxas' eyes grew the size of plates at her definition of "few") on the tip jar. Thanking the owner, they stepped outside into the cold night.

"Its still raining," commented Roxas. He shivered at the cold breeze that blew suddenly. "Goddamnit, this rainy cold front is really pissing me off."

"Here."

Roxas looked up from the nook of his coat to see Nami's thick white rain coat near his face. He raised his eyebrow at her gesture, unsure of what to do.

"You're obviously going to die from hypothermia or something," she explained while throwing the coat over his shoulder, the warmth of her body being transferred to his. "Besides, my ride is here." Looking past her, he saw an expensive looking vehicle parked at the corner of the lot. Roxas snickered at himself for thinking that she was going to walk home. She was rich after all. She flashed him one last smile before running to the vehicle.

Roxas huddled inside her coat, enjoying the warmth and protection that it gave. After a minute standing idle outside of the rain, he suddenly remembered that he still needed to pack for tomorrow's trip. He looked at his watch. 10:56pm. Would he have enough time to sleep? The bus was schedule to leave at 5:00am tomorrow and the ride from his house to the school is an hour long. Roxas sighed at the situation before a small smile formed on his lips. He just couldn't say no to his new friend after all.

* * *

**AN: Thanks for reading the second chapter of my story! Reviews and constructive criticism on my sentence structure/vocabulary choices/character development/etc. would be so awesome. **


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